Electronic devices employ RF architectures for communication. RF architectures comprise a Power Amplifier (PA) that can be used to amplify the signal during communication. The operation of a PA is a major contributor to current drain in a battery and heat dissipation, which occur in electronic devices. High battery drain results in reduced talk time and battery life. To increase the life of a battery, its size could be increased, in order to store more electrical power. This, in turn, would affect the overall size and weight of the handset and the comfort involved in using the electronic device.
Different techniques are conventionally employed to minimize the drain of the PA, which enhance the efficiency of the electronic device. These techniques add complexity to the electronic device. They also result in increased factory testing time and the calibration time of electronic devices. The characteristics of the PA are compensated for operating the electronic device. This is especially true in the case of electronic devices that operate on spread spectrum and polar modulation. Compensation entails the availability of detailed calibration parameters for different components in the electronic device, such as the PA. The calibration parameters are obtained by extensive testing of the components; and they are stored in calibration tables. The PA manufacturer often measures these calibration parameters. However, they are re-measured during the manufacturing of the electronic devices, since the calibration parameters are not available to the manufacturer of the electronic device. Therefore, re-measurement of the calibration parameters results in an increase in the time taken to manufacture the electronic devices.
The preparation of calibration tables enables the PA and other components in an electronic device to meet operational specifications, but results in a very long testing period. This long testing time requires a full test period for second sourcing the PA, which results in inflexibility and difficulty in choosing a different vendor to source the PA. The large variation between each vendor's designs makes it difficult to second source a PA of a given RF architecture design.
Accordingly, there is a need for a mechanism that allows a PA to store calibration parameters within the PA.